Watch the 1949 MGM film version of Madame Bovary, especially the scene at the ball when Emma is dancing. Choose another scene in the novel that focuses on Emma's passionate nature and describe how you would film it.

Compare Tolstoy's Anna Karenina to Emma, analyzing their motivations and their fate.

Research the rights of women in France during the mid-nineteenth century. How much freedom and opportunity would a woman like Emma have in that culture?

Investigate the lives of the French middle class during the nineteenth century. How strict was their class system? What moral standards did they follow?